thank you so much for watching this hour of msnbc live. i'm in for tamron hall and back with you tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. peter alexander is in for andrea mitchell on "andrea mitchell reports." both men get ready to battle over the future of obamacare. >> look out for the american

people. >> our republican colleagues don't quite know what to do. they are like the dog who caught the bus. they can repeal but they have nothing to put in its place. rallying republicans, the vice president-elect says it's time to usher in a new era. >> we are 16 days away from the end of business as usual in washington, d.c., but the first order of business is to repeal and replace obamacare. >> and donald trump casts doubts on the top spies and sides with the founder of wikileaks. >> the president-elect has expressed his very sincere and healthy american skepticism about intelligence conclusions. >> you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways of sunday to get back at you. even a hard-nose businessman, he's being really done to do

this. good day. i'm peter alexander and in for andrea mitchell where past, present and future partisans were glaring this morning on capitol hill. in one corner, you have the president and congressional democrats strategizing with hopes to try to find a way to keep as much of their leader legislation in tact as they can after he leaves the white house barely 16 days from now. in the other corner, you have vice president-elect mike pence and republicans eager to repeal the health care law but still unsure of what the final replacement will look like and whether they will pay a political price. we want to bring in our team on this at the hill. msnbc political correspondent kasie hunt and nbc's hans nichols. kasie, we'll start with you. the message that he said in present is now becoming public. what did he tell the top democrats today?

>> reporter: peter, it looks like democrats are digging in. they are setting themselves up for a showdown with republicans. they are basically saying, hey, look, you want to repeal this, we're not going to help you put a plan back together and you're going to have to own whatever political ramifications there are for your decision to repeal this health care law. they have learned some tough lessons over the course of the last eight years. a lot of democrats have lost their seats. they are essentially betting that while people may think that obamacare is the bad guy, that they don't approve of it, that they are unhappy with it, they are receiving benefits from it that maybe they don't realize and there will be blowback against republicans. of course, there are potential issues for democrats here. there are 20 million people who have insurance now who didn't before this health care law and if there aren't democrats willing to work to try to put something back together for those people, there could potentially be a political ramifications for them as well. i asked democratic leader chuck

schumer about this just a few minutes ago. >> reporter: senator schumer, there are 20 million people who have health care now who didn't before this law was passed. if republicans repeal it and lose their coverage, what are you going to say to them? are you going to say, no, we're not going to help republicans repair this? >> no, we're going to say, let's see the republican plan. if we put a plan forth first, they reject it. the things we want to do are quite different. >> reporter: so democrats really taking a sharp stand. the republicans telling democrats not to rescue republicans if they go out and repeal this without having a plan to fix it afterwards. peter? >> kasie hunt on capitol hill for us right now. president-elect donald trump is in new york with a string of tweets taking aim at the intelligence community ahead of this big meeting of russian hacking scheduled to take place on friday. on tuesday, the briefing he wrote on so-called russian hacking was delayed until

friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case, very strange, he writes. and then the follow up was this morning. julian assange said, "a 14-year-old could have hacked podesta," the campaign chairman for hillary clinton. he said, "why was the dnc so careless? also said russians did not give him the info." kristen welker is outside the trump tower. bottom line is, they are holding firm in this sort of kas sim that's growing with the intelligence community over julian assange's own intel support. >> reporter: it's striking peter. this is a rift that we've seen between donald trump and the intelligence community. he's repeatedly questioned their assessment that russia is behind the hacking that took place during the 2016 campaign. and these latest series of tweets only making that rift

larger. one top intelligence official telling msnbc, first of all, that intelligence briefing was always scheduled for friday. and secondly, the intelligence officials saying that the language in that tweet is disturbing and adversarial. it's a tense matchup. it's also putting republicans in a really tough spot. a lot of them who have come out against julian assange and who say that they do believe u.s. intelligence -- take a listen to this clip of radio interview between house speaker paul ryan and hugh hewitt. >> let me ask you what your opinion is of julian assange. >> i really have none other than i think the guy is a sycophant for russia. he leaks and steals data and compromises national security. >> reporter: in terms of who will be at the briefing on

friday, it will be cia director john brennan, james comey, james clapper, mike rogers. a lot of those folks are people who donald trump has criticized in the past. so it could be a tense backdrop to that friday briefing. one more point, the president-elect had said he was going to hold a news conference next week on the 11th, his first since being elected. now we're told, according to a top transition official, that could get pushed back until the 12th. so still no firm date, peter, on that first press conference that we're expected from the president-elect. >> the news conference first scheduled for the middle of december and now we'll find out exactly when soon. kristen welker covering the trump transition at the trump tower. kristen, thank you. let's go now to hans nichols. you've been keeping an eye not so much on donald trump but on the team he has fortified for his agenda going forward led by

vice president-elect mike pence. what was the focus of their closed-door meetings earlier? >> reporter: peter, you want to break it up into two points. tone and substance. on the tone, everyone is optimistic that they can have a successful running start to the start of this new administration. but on the substance, when you pin down a little bit, it seems clear that they don't what happens next. yes, they are all on the same page of repealing obamacare. speaker ryan spoke about the need to have parallel tracks and not pull the rug out of those americans that have health insurance but when pressed on what he would actually replace it with, here was his answer. >> we have a plan to replace it. we have plenty of ideas to replace it and you'll see, as the weeks and months unfold, how you can get better choices with lower prices without having government take over health

care. >> on day one, donald trump is going to reverse much of what barack obama has done but those will unlikely be specific to health care. it's a crucial distinction. what they are talking about in terms of repealing obamacare is to go through legislatively. democratic congressman jim hines is joining me and he's able to talk about a variety of these topics, including health care and intelligence. we'll start, if we can, with today's meeting, congressman, as we thank you for your time. what was the president's private message to lawmakers going forward. offhandedly i heard that he said this is going to be the republicans' issue and they may as well call it trumpcare. what did he tell you? >> the president spokes time with republicans and democrats

talking about the accomplishments over the last eight years and focusing on health care and it was around one point. it's easy to say you're going to repeal the affordable health care act. it's going to be hard to explain what you replace it with. it's been seven years now when the aca was first debated here, there was no plan and there's been no plan for seven years. this is important because it's not so much the political blowback, although that will be biblical, it's 20 million people who have insurance now, seniors getting lower drug places. repealing this is as easy as a vote in the senate and the house but replacing it with something that doesn't hurt those people is a real challenge. >> there is an idea of repeal and delay.

what's the risk, in the eyes of democrats of that strategy? >> let's listen to the experts. the hospital associations, the american medical association came out pretty aggressively on this. people who republicans actually listen to, senator rand paul today in the newspaper saying, repeal and delay is a fantasy and it's a really bad strategy. forget about all of those people. imagine that individual out there who is covered by medicaid and that individual who has insurance today. don't worry, it's coming. this is health care. people aren't going to buy that. >> let me ask you about intelligence, if i can, very quickly here. you've seen donald trump with a series of tweets siding with julian assange, the wikileaks founder, over the american intelligence community in some form right now. is donald trump being duped by

julian assange? >> i don't know if he's being duped by julian assange but the idea that he cannot leave the bolivian embassy and order all of his meals out is bizarre. what worries me about trump is he's delegitimatizing the intelligence community. these are people who risk their lives every day to keep the country safe. number two, he's siding with vice president. the tweet where he's a really smart man, i knew how smart he was. and then number three instead of saying i don't know what happened on this hack and i'm not sure that the intelligence agencies know everything, he's taking the opposite task and say let's move on, it's not a big deal. the american people need to scratch their heads and say what the heck is going on here. >> on friday's meeting where he meets up with the heads of the intelligence community here in the united states, will that do anything to shift his opinion? >> well, i certainly hope so. these are people who work 24/7

to provide the president with the best intelligence and advice that they can. i know donald trump is a very, very smart guy and doesn't think he needs those intelligence briefings but he owes the americans to listen which is getting this intelligence to advise the president of the united states. >> congressman, last question, donald trump says he has information that nobody else knows in terms of intel convenience vis-a-vis russia. what could he be talking about. >> i don't know the answer to that question but i do know and hope the media follows up on this, that the president-elect made it clear to the american people either tuesday or wednesday and here we are on wednesday that we're going to be told what that secret stuff that he knows with respect to the russian people is. i'm just as curious as you are as to what it is that president-elect knows.

>> congressman jim himes, thank you. >> thank you, peter. coming up, cyberwar. even as trump continues to defy the findings of the cia, the fbi, you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. ♪

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back now on "andrea mitchell reports." the heads of the nsa, cia and fbi and director of national

intelligence will brief donald trump this friday on their assessment that russia tried to meddle in this past year's election. but president-elect donald trump continues to slam the intelligence community. we want to bring in shawn henley, a msnbc cybersecurity and counterterrorism intelligence director. the bottom line is, intelligence officials are telling us right now that some of the most recent tweets, including this one by donald trump, are disturbing and adversarial, according to one official. the wrote, "the intelligence briefing on so-called russian hacking was delayed until friday perhaps more time needed to build a case. very strange." what's your take on this as someone who understands this world as language being directed at that community from the president-elect? >> there's two things, peter. first of all, this ogiy came from the private sector. they were hired to come in

because there was some behavior on the dnc network. we identified the russian government six months ago. >> back in may. >> yes. there were other companies that we provided the intelligence that we found. these are companies competitive to us that concurred this is the russian government. that was six months before the u.s. government came forward. it started with the private sector. >> so he's disting t private sector's best information. >> and we've called out many other hacks in the last five years, and the other piece is, the intelligence community has really got to be the president's primary asset in terms of national security for the united states of america. he's going to be relying on nsa, cia -- >> what's the risk now as the chasm continues to grow? >> it's important for the president-elect and anyone in a senior position to look at what intelligence has been collected,

look at the totality of the circumstances and look at it understanding what the motivation is. the motivation is about keeping the american public safe, protecting them from harm from foreign adversaries. >> sean spicer said this morning, it's not the intelligence that we dispute. it's the conclusions that have been drawn by it. this morning, donald trump appeared to be siding with julian assange over the intelligence community. i guess my question is, he said a teenager could have hacked into john podesta's computer. what's your reaction? >> it's the same intelligence agencies that targeted the state department, the white house and joints chief of staff. they have been tar geting u.s. intelligence for a long time. their plan is to collect

information that helps to make their country stronger and more competitive and understand what the u.s. policies and procedures are going to be. so this is a sophisticated group. the second piece is, an individual came forward after we went public and said that the dnc had been hacked by the russians. gucifer said i hacked the dnc and gave the information to wikileaks. gucifer has been trying to cover the tracks of the dnc hack. >> bottom line is, this is how it works. russia isn't going to say we handed this off to wikileaks. this is the way the cyberattack system plays out? >> it's a classic cutout. your attack methodology, you look to the sources of methods by which you collected the intelligence. the russians are the best in the business. they have been doing this for many, many decades. they'll continue to do this

going forward. we have to give them the respect in that regard but from a defensive posture, you have to understand what your responses have to be. >> big meeting on friday. the heads of the intelligence agencies with donald trump, if you were in that room, what would you say to the president-elect to try to better convince him, hey, this is the best information, the information we have with high confidence right now and what you're doing isn't helping? >> i think what you've got to do is lay out the facts and, remember, intelligence is broadly collected. you have signals intelligence, intercepts, satellite intelligence, you have human intelligence, people who have been in contact with those who are tied to the russian collection program. so you've got to look again at the totality of the circumstances, lay out the facts and understand what the methods are and what the motivations are, connect it with other attacks that have occurred over many, many years. this is what we did. this is what the intelligence community did. it's not looking at one isolated

event but an aggregate of intelligence collected over many years. >> former executive assistant director at the fbi, john, good to see you. >> good to see you. coming up, president obama and vice president-elect pence both on capitol hill as obama tries to say the health care law. >> we're going to repeal obamacare. we are going to replace obamacare with something so much better. i will ask congress to convene a special session so we can repeal and replace. >> i'm asking for your vote so we can repeal and replace obamacare and save health care for every family. tech: at safelite, we know how busy your life can be.

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on capitol hill, a political showdown over the battle of obamacare. donald trump and republicans are trying to tear it down and republicans have yet to come up with an alternative or a way to pay for it. this comes after a rocky first day back on the hill in a stunning reversal by house republicans to keep the independent ethics office in tact. joining me now is republican congressman walter jones. congressman jones, i appreciate you being with us right now. i know you were in that meeting earlier with the president-elect mike pence. the bottom line is, the rate of insurance has dropped dramatically from before obamacare existed to after. it's dropped six points in seven years. 20 million more americans are covered thanks to obamacare. the structure of coverage hasn't worked for everybody but access to a plan is better than no

plan. how specifically will republicans replace it? >> well, peter, you were right that vice president mike pence spoke to our conference today and i will say this, that in my district, the third district of north carolina, we have many of the constituencies that got as much as 30% increase in their insurance premium. these are hard-working american people who cannot afford a 3 or $400 increase in their health bill and still survive. so obviously -- >> congressman -- >> let me get clarification. from 2006 to 2011, before the implementation, it was 30% nationally and now it's 20% nationally. in fact, nationally, it's gone down. >> not in some states. that might be true, understood, in some places. >> nationally. >> but in some states it's gone up and my state is one of them. we're losing insurance companies that want to participate.

our rate has gone up, truthfully, and you can certainly check that out. but i would tell you that what is beginning to happen and that's why mr. trump and mike pence said today that we've got to have an alternative. i agree with what you said a while ago. you cannot repeal and not replace. you have to replace. >> so what does that look like? >> well, at this point, we haven't seen the bill. mr. pence said today that after mr. trump is sworn in, there will be movement to present some ideas as to how we need to fix the problems in the affordable care act. >> congressman, with respect to republicans, they have been saying they want to repeal obamacare for years now and it's now finally their moment. it's their window of opportunity. as you concede, there is no bill to concede because there's no formal plan yet. >> i think -- that's what i'm saying. i think for my party, the republican party, we must have a side-by-side, a replacement as we begin to repeal and i think you're going to see and i think

president-elect trump has said that in the last few weeks. he has not been quite as adamant about a total repeal and not have some type of a replacement for those people, as you said earlier, peter, that need the coverage. >> so you were talking about donald trump. we'll tell you exactly what he said. he said republicans must be careful and that the democrats own the failed obamacare disaster, as he wrote it. he said with its poor coverage and massive premium increases, citing increases in arizona, 116%. also, deductibles are so high that is practically useless. don't let, as he said it, the schumer clowns out of this massive web of increases of obamacare that will take place this year and democrats are to blame for the mess. it will fall of its own weight. be careful. the challenge will be whether it is able to be put back together. we wait and see on that right now. i want to ask you about the gutting of the ethics office, if i can very quickly, congressman. >> yes, sir. >> this is something that you strongly opposed.

>> right. >> what was your take on the response by house republicans only hours after effectively eviscerating this independent office that was intended to keep lawmakers, you know, in line and all of a sudden the quick reversal? >> peter, i fully support, as you just stated, an independent oversight of ethics in washington, d.c., and we need it badly and i'm glad that our house leadership came to their senses and understood that there was no reason to gut the independent ethics commission. it would be the wrong thing to do for the american people. they must have trust in washington, d.c., and -- >> were lawmakers motivated by donald trump's tweet or motivated by constituents? >> i think it was both. i will tell you, i got in -- i was not there the night before. i got in at 10 to 8:00 on tuesday morning and a lady from my district said please do not

gut the ethics commission and i think it helped put pressure on the leadership to not do any -- take any steps to gut the commission. >> and to conclude, going forward, when there's less focus and attention on this, is that your red line that at no point should this be gutted in any form? >> no. i'm fully in favor of the commission. i want them to have the inat th independence to tell us when we are wrong and right. >> congressman, thank you. >> thank you, sir. coming up, seeing red. the top democratic mark warner on trump's latest take on the russian hacking. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. [ crowd noise ] whoa. [ gears stopping ]

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i think that the president-elect has expressed his very sincere and healthy american skepticism about intelligence conclusions. i think, given some of the intelligence failures of the recent years, president-elect has made it clear to the american people that he's skeptical about conclusions from the bureaucracy and i think the american people hear him loud and clear. >>he vice president-elect mike pence there defending donald trump's continued defiance of

the intelligence community's findings on russian hacking. joining me is senator mark warner, the incoming top democratic committee on the senate intelligence. thank you for your time. what is your response to vice president-elect mike pence? is the incoming administration's skepticism healthy or is it dangerous? >> i think the most important thing the intelligence community can always do is speak truth to power and it seems like perhaps the president-elect doesn't want to hear those truths. i know he's met with certain members of the intel community but clearly not in the same way that president bush or president obama did in their transition. and it's what we're looking at here is unprecedented uninimoty from 17 different intelligence agencies saying that there was interference in the election and there is bipartisan concern here

in the senate about trying to get to the bottom of this. i find his kind of disrespect to the literally thousands of intelligence professionals who keep this country safe frankly flabbergasted. >> so what's the risk? >> the risk is by in effect you've always got to keep -- take the intelligence community, constantly probe, make sure they have all of the facts but this was an individual not even taking the regular briefings, has yet to meet with the full committee, the full community and the truth of the matter is, when you in effect disrespect the intelligence community, this president-elect by these tweets, what kind of message does that send to potential assets we have around the world who might be willing to work with our intelligence agencies and someone coming in now as the vice chair, been on this committee for about seven years, i tell you, these intelligence

professionals do a remarkable job and this country is much safer for their work. >> senator warner, julian assange continues to deny that russia was behind the cyberattacks and here's what he said last night on fox news. >> did russia give you this information or anybody associated with russia? >> our source is not a state party. so the answer for our interactions is no. >> donald trump's been critical of the intelligence community. as you noted, last night he tweeted, "really wish we saw more peotus respect for our intelligence professionals." that's something you tweeted. excuse me. how are those critical of trump going to deal with this president for the next four years? >> it worries me and these are going to be questions we ask his

nominees about before they get confirmed within the intelligence community, for example, the cia director and others, how are they going to make sure that the intelligence community tells the president-elect their best judgment and speaks that truth to power in an uncompromised way. i find it, again, a little flabbergasting that he seems to accept a comment from a julian assange over the combined professionalism of those who fight every day to keep us safe. >> again, this is not partisan. we've got to get to the bottom of this. the american people are going to know a lot more next week and part of that will be made public. but the american people need to get this information. >> let me ask you about obamacare. if obamacare is repealed, how

much should democrats do to work with republicans on that replacement. >> well, i think we've got to see their plan. they've had seven years to come up with a plan and now the president-elect is saying to keep the prohibition and policies until the 26th. show us how they are going to do it, pay for it and not leave the 20 million americans who have got insurance coverage now through obamacare in the lurch and then, yeah, maybe we can work with them. but they have been obsessed about repeal. it's remarkable they have not been as obsessed about what the product would be to replace it. >> last question. quickly, donald trump praising ford for not deciding to open up a new construction site in mexico. in fact, saying that they will create new jobs in the united states, sort of claiming some credit for this. does the credit go to donald

trump or president obama? >> there wouldn't be much auto industry today if the president hadn't intervened and at the peak of the crisis. somebody who has spent longer in business than politics, the idea that you can tweet out remarks that ceos have already made remarks about and then claim credit for it, that's different way of doing business than i would have done. >> senator mark warner of virginia, thank you for your time. >> thank you, peter. coming up, what do trump voters have to say about the battle brewing over obamacare? we'll speak to them next on "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. t earn interest, david. you know i work at ally. i was being romantic. you know what i find romantic? a robust annual percentage yield

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the battle is now under way on capitol hill over obamacare and we're hearing today from real people who are impacted by the health care law. msnbc's cal perry, my colleague, is in gettysburg, pennsylvania, in a county that voted for donald trump. you're talking to trump supporters today. what are they telling you about their thoughts as we weigh the future of this law? >> reporter: yes, a very heavily red county. this is the lincoln diner in historic gettysburg. we've been talking to people about obamacare. people are very passionate about

the issue. we've been asking them first about their deductibles and what they would propose as a possible solution. we spoke to diana and les a short time ago. listen to what they said. >> worst piece of legislation ever passed. >> ever? >> ever. >> have the prices gone up? >> oh, yes. i started out with a policy that was $400 that went to $800 and i had to drop it this year. it went up to almost $1400. >> with a $10,000 deductible. what they needed to do, if your company offers insurance, you have to take it. if you don't -- can't afford it and don't have a job, all you had to do was put people on medicaid. the money that they have spent for obamacare would have covered everybody under medicaid. >> reporter: people's views on how to fix it do sort of vary, peter, but i will tell you, the one thing that is clear is that everybody here, at least the majority of people here agree with donald trump that there needs to be more competition in

the marketplace, that this should remain an issue of private business. >> bottom line, one of the challenges here is what democrats say frequently, that a lot of states with republican governors didn't accept the medicaid expansion impacted their ability to provide affordable coverage for folks in those communities. what will people saying there specifically about the news that president obama and mike pence are both on the hill and these tweets attacking americans? >> reporter: you know, in places like this, i don't think you can under estimate what those donald trump tweets mean. if congress can't fix this, will donald trump's administration be able to fix it, they say yes, he's a businessman, he'll be able to conquer this and there is a blame game going on and people read those tweets and do blame the democrats in congress.

>> cal perry in gettysburg, thank you. appreciate your reporting. we turn now to south carolina where sentencing begins for dylann roof. in a rare legal move, the 22-year-old is representing himself as a jury tries to decide whether to sentence him to death or life in prison. roof says he doesn't plan to call witnesses or to present any evidence. msnbc's mariana atencia is live in charleston. what did we hear from him today? >> reporter: it was the most dramatic move, talking to the jurors and victims' family members for the first time about this massacre. it lasted a little less than two minutes n a soft, mumbled voice, this is what he told jurors. he said, i chose to represent myself to prevent my lawyers from presenting my mental health

evaluation. it isn't because i am trying to keep a secret. i'm not going to lie to you, there's nothing wrong with me psychologically. peter ro dylann roof spoke about his mental competency and this infuriated people, including one family member that stormed out. the defense team tried to introduce evidence about his mental health, roof refused and that's why he's representing himself. in the courtroom now, we just heard from jennifer pinkney, how her husband was a voice for the voiceless and talking about his relationship with the two daughters. the girls would always run to their dad in the back of the church. they wanted to be with dad. it is the first time that this courtroom has heard from jennifer pinckney and the prosecution plans to bring forward 30 more witnesses that

talk about the impact that this has had on their lives. >> mariana atense ohio, thank you. coming up next on "andrea mitchell reports," prepping for battle. rex tillerson heads to the hill today. we'll have more ahead on our "daily fix" only on msnbc. a post using the hashtag "#justrobbedthesafe" so, what are we supposed to think? switching to geico could save you a bunch of money on car insurance. excellent point. case dismissed. geico. because saving fifteen percent or more on car insurance woo! because saving fifteen percent or more on car insurance is always a great answer.

a lot more action on capitol hill.

secretary of state nominee rex tillerson will meet with mitch mcconnell ahead of a bruising confirmation hearing next wednesday. that's the same day that donald trump was initially saying he would hold the big news conference that we've been waiting for months to see. joining me now for our "daily fix," chris lizza, founder "the washington post's" fix blog. chris, to you, first, sean spicer said today that the news conference may get bumped back to the 12th of january. that would be the same day as hearings begin for general mattis in this. is there something to the politics or opt particulars of holding a news conference overlapping with these hearings for rex tillerson or perhaps general mattis? >> yes. democrats have made no secret, peter, that they believe rex tillerson's financial interests, the extent to which they have been scrutinized, are

problematic for him as well as his relationships in russia. that will be part of a pretty aggressive questioning of him. trump, whatever you think of him, you need to give him credit for understanding of how people's attention gets maneuvered and manipulated. a donald trump press conference would be full stop of anything that would happen that day short of the super bowl. if there's a concern about tillerson and his performance, you would not -- or mattis, you would not be wrong to put something else that could zap attention away from that on that day. >> i'm thinking attorney general jeff sessions likely, who do you think is the most vulnerable as we look at some of these donald trump picks? >> i think attorney general jeff sessions. when i look at the naacp and

other civil rights organizations, they have already started to do sit-ins at his office and they are being vocal about the fact that he's not going to be the best person to lead that department and the naacp president has already been arrested sitting outside of his office. he was rejected because of whether he said racially insensitive things to workers and whether he would be able to be unbiased. i think jeff sessions is going to be a huge fight. i agree with chris in that donald trump really does understand the media and understands the attention. i think if he schedules a press conference when mattis or tillerson are being confirmed, that tells me that he's really worried about those two because that's true, that if donald trump comes out and has a press conference after four months of us waiting, even if tillerson -- there's big news about tillerson's conflict of interest, it's going to compete.

>> right. general mattis, we should note, meeting with kristen gillibrand on the hill moments ago. chuck schumer is now taking a hard line stance, at least he did in a conversation with rachel maddow. here's what he said. >> we are not going to settle on a supreme court nominee. if they don't appoint someone who is really good, we're going to oppose them tooth and nail. it's hard for me to imagine a nominee that donald trump would choose that would get republican support that we could support. so you're right. >> so you will do your best to hold the seat open? >> absolutely. >> a lot of republicans are saying, what's behind the idea back a couple months ago, merrick garland's name was floating around, fill the supreme court vacancy. now role reversal. >> yeah. you know what's fascinating, i was struck by that last night when i saw it. there's a big difference between

what schumer -- the first thing chuck said to rachel and the second thing. the first thing is, we're going to oppose the nominee which is not surprising. the "they will work to keep it vacant" is newsworthy. that's clearly what he said. >> chris cillizza, thank you. we appreciate you. thanks. that's going to do it for "andrea mitchell reports." my friend craig melvin is up next right here on msnbc. craig, we hand things over to you. peter, good afternoon. lots of things to get to at this hour. showdown on the hill. president obama with a last-ditch effort to save his signature health care law as republicans plot to tear it apart. intel backlash.

president-elect donald trump siding with wikileaks founder julian assange as he doubles down on his doubts of russian hacking. how will the intelligence community respond? and defending his own life. the man convicted of killing nine people at a charleston church prayer group defending himself and telling the jury, quote, there's nothing wrong with me. we'll get to charleston in a moment but we start on capitol hill. right now, vice president-elect mike presence meeting behind closed doors and democrats also huddled at their own policy luncheon. day one in the fight for the future of the affordable care act. >> we're going to keep our promise to the american people and we're going to repeal obamacare. >> we want to make sure as we give people relief of obamacare, we don't pull the rug out of anybody. >> to delay and